PhD Program in Historical studies
The Holy Week in Calabria
In the Calabrian Holy Week there are at least three evocative ritual moments: the processions of Good Friday, in which the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows takes part in the procession, the coffin of the Dead Christ and groups of statues that depict scenes from the Passion (generally referred to as vare, varette or misteri); the Affruntata (or Cunfrunta), the spectacular meeting on the town square between the Virgin Mary and the Risen Son on Easter Sunday (the best known example is that of Catanzaro); ‘A Pigghiata (Capture), the living representation of the Passion of Christ, the arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Olives (and sometimes the Last Supper) up to the Crucifixion.
The most important Good Friday processions are the Naca of Catanzaro and the Varette of Vibo Valentia (the typical pageants on which the scenes of the Passion are set), linked by the presence of an actor (Simon of Cyrene), which portrays the suffering of Jesus. The most famous theatrical re-enactment of the Passion of Christ takes place in Catanzaro, in the district of Gagliano: every seven years, the city’s confraternities organize a suggestive Pigghiata with living characters. The same thing happens in Tiriolo (Catanzaro), where the entire town acts as a backdrop to the sacred representation.
In Calabria there are also some rare examples of penitential processions, during which some particularly devout believers (called vattienti or battenti) give rise to spectacular self-flagellation. In the past, such ceremonies were present in several locations. Today, however, there remain but few striking examples: the Vattienti of Holy Saturday in Nocera Terinese (Catanzaro) and the Battenti on Holy Thursday in Verbicaro, in the province of Cosenza (where, on the morning of Good Friday, the representation of the Passion with statues and living paintings takes place). Such bloody rituals are derived from penitential customs implemented by the confraternities of flagellants or disciplinati in the Middle Ages. In Calabria, similar ceremonies of mortification are attested to since the seventeenth century.